The present invention relates generally to apparatus for forming a plurality of slices of food products such as meat, cheese and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to a control system by which the slicer may be controlled for manual operation or for operation in an automated fashion.
Slicing machines have been commercially available for many years, with a typical example shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,051,207. In the machine shown therein, and as is typical with slicing machines, a gravity feed of the food product material to the slicing blade is used. In such an arrrangement, the rotating slicing blade is supported in a plane extending at an angle to vertical, usually an angle of about 45.degree.. A carriage for supporting the food product may be in the form of a V in cross section, with the side walls thereof intersecting at the bottom of the carriage and extending generally at right angles with respect to the slicing plane. Thus, the angle at which the material rests within the carriage is sufficient to cause the material to slide downwardly toward the slicing plane.
The carriage may be moved reciprocally in the direction of the plane of the blade. A gauge plate or wall is generally provided ahead of the knife, so that as the carriage is withdrawn on its return stroke from the blade, the material will slide into contact with the gauge plate. As the carriage is moved on its forward or slicing stroke, the end of the material will engage the knife and a slice will be removed, with the thickness of the slice being determined by the setting of the gauge plate with respect to the slicing plane.
It is desirable to provide such a slicer which can be automatically controlled. In this way, specific numbers of slices may be produced, thereby adding convenience for the operator and minimizing food product wastage. To enhance productivity, it is also desirable to be able to control the stroke length for the carriage as well as carriage speed, in accordance with parameters which are dependent upon the nature and size of the particular food product to be sliced, to simulate normal manual operation.
It should also be possible to operate the slicer manually, since circumstances will exist where the quantity of slices is unknown ahead of time. However, such capability for manual operation should not be detrimental to the automatic operation of the slicer.
What is needed, therefore, is a control system for a food product slicer that enables automatic operation in a manner such as is described above. Such a control system should allow the number of slices, stroke length and stroke speed to be controlled. At the same time, the control system should permit manual operation without adversely affecting later automatic operation of the slicer.